


Apple Cider

by wolfsanim



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: College AU, F/F, Fluff, a side of chuuves, and maybe other pairings too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 21:25:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18978652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfsanim/pseuds/wolfsanim
Summary: Opposites attract, they say. Well, at least in Hyejoo’s case. She did not want any part in her friend’s shenanigans but if it weren’t for the fact that her friends are useless gays and dumb, she wouldn’t have met Park Chaewon in the first place.or in whichJiwoo has a crush on one of the popular girls in college; Ha Sooyoung a.k.a Yves and Hyejoo gets dragged by Jinsoul and Jungeun for their plan to catch Yves’ attention for Jiwoo. Inevitably, she crosses path with one of Yves’ friends, Park Chaewon. One time becomes two times and two times becomes three. It eventually leads to them spending time secretly with each other, behind their friend’s back. And something more develops from there.





	Apple Cider

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Note – So, fluff, fluff and more fluff. Follow me on @wolfsanim on Twitter! :D I need more people to talk to. Ugly cries. First chapter is up!

 

“Guys, I have a big announcement to make.”

Jiwoo says in an orderly manner, which is not something that Kim Jiwoo does on a normal basis.

The expression on her face was almost void of any emotions and everyone knows that Jiwoo is a walking ray of sunshine, who hops around if she could and flashes a smile at almost everyone who crosses her path.

For her to be in this state, it had to be something serious.  

She had gathered the rest of her housemates too in the living room and both Jungeun and Jinsoul had long discarded their phones on the couch, instead staring at Jiwoo in a mix of curiosity and concern.

Hyejoo follows soon after that, pausing the game on her Nintendo Switch and paying full attention on Jiwoo who is currently standing before them. The older girl continues to blink without a word, before taking a deep breath and speaking up in a squeaky voice.

“I think I fell in love with someone.”

Silence fell in the room again and Hyejoo was the first one out of the three to divert her attention back to her own business with a sigh. A part of her was ready to worry for Jiwoo and sympathize with whatever that Jiwoo had gotten herself into but nope, it seems that she doesn’t need to do so after hearing what was bothering the older girl.

Jinsoul on the other hand could only snort at the ridiculous situation that had just unfolded and Jungeun – who had known Jiwoo longer than the rest of them, couldn’t help but to break into laughter on the couch and it took a quick smack on her face with a pillow by Jinsoul for her to finally shut up and settle down.

Jiwoo was still standing in front them with a dazed look.

“That’s good. Congrats I guess?” Jinsoul says with a raised brow and plops back into her seat.

“After all these years you’re finally falling in love Kim Jiwoo? This calls for a celebration!” Jungeun continues to laugh for a bit more as she hops onto her feet to tackle her friend for a headlock, messing Jiwoo’s hair in the process.

Jiwoo would’ve normally tried to retort to her in some way but the girl was just too out of it to even do anything back to Jungeun.

“That’s nice unnie,” Hyejoo adds in uninterestedly.

“So, who is it? A guy? A girl?” Jungeun eventually drags Jiwoo to the couch where they had been sitting at for the past hour, trying to inquire more from Jiwoo.

She certainly needs to know more about the person who had managed to capture her friend’s heart.

For all the five years that she had known Jiwoo, she had never seen the latter head over heels for someone. Several boys and even girls as a matter of fact, confessed to Jiwoo during high school and early college and until now, Jiwoo had rejected every single one of them to the point where Jungeun had to conclude that Jiwoo is asexual.

Turns out that wasn’t the case.

“I-I think you guys would know her,” Jiwoo finally replies after some time and Jungeun and Jinsoul couldn’t help but to choke upon hearing the name that came out from her lips. “Yves. You guys know her right?”  

Of course it had to be one of the most popular girls in their batch. It wouldn’t be an overstatement too for them to consider Yves one of their campus’ goddesses.

Ha Sooyoung – or better known as Yves is one of the top tier students in their faculty.

Beautiful, smart, funny, great personality and a great body to top all that.

Ha Sooyoung is the epitome of unfairness itself.

Because how can someone possess all those qualities and excel in life?

Jinsoul is somewhat determined that Yves has some nasty secret hidden under all those qualities but nevertheless, Yves is just something that is nice to see and not to touch and for Jiwoo to have fallen for Yves like any other students in their campus is just so sad.

To think that Yves would be Jiwoo’s first crush slash love interest too makes it even sadder.

Hyejoo only listens to them quietly and unknowingly pouts when her character gets killed by a monster in the game. She still has the console in her hands but chooses to pay her full attention again this time on her housemates.  

She has heard who this ‘Yves’ girl is before and has probably seen her around once or twice but Hyejoo never really pays any heed to her. It’s not as if they’re under the same faculty anyway.

Hyejoo was the only one out of the four in the house who’s taking a different major and it’s still a mystery to her on how the four managed to become close in the first place.

To top it off, Hyejoo’s a first year unlike the rest of them. The only reason why she had wanted to stay at the house was because of her cousin – Haseul who was the three’s former roommate and offered Hyejoo to stay in replacement for her after she found out that Hyejoo was going to the same university. Haseul had to move out after graduating, to live in with her girlfriend Vivi who is now residing in Seoul too and Hyejoo is not going to reject her offer, with how affordable the rent was and how close the house was to school.  

Hyejoo had met Vivi once to help Haseul in moving in and she seems pretty and nice.

Haseul and Vivi’s case was one of the rare cases where long distance relationship works out in the end. She doesn’t know much about Vivi and how they met, but what she does know is that the girl is from Hong Kong and is the owner of an online shopping mall.

All in all, Hyejoo is just glad that Haseul is happy.

“Um, can’t you pick someone else to fall for… my friend?” Jungeun chuckles awkwardly and Jiwoo, _poor Jiwoo_ could only shake her head as a response.

“I-I think I really like her.”

“…Okay. What did she do to you that makes you like her so much?”

Jiwoo was hesitant to answer her for once. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Huh,” Jungeun clicks her tongue and gives in with a sigh. She chooses not to prod any more until the girl spills the tea herself and as a good friend, she’s just going to be there for Jiwoo. _Or so she says._ Of course she’s just going to dig on more information by herself but she’s not going to say that. Maybe she could get Jinsoul to help her too. “Tough luck pal, I think it’d be hard for you to catch Yves’ attention. She basically has a bunch of hot people surrounding her.”

“Hey, don’t be mean to our Jiwoo. Jiwoo’s pretty cute too you know,” Jinsoul instantly nudges Jungeun from the side and tries to compliment Jiwoo for what she is, but ends up with another snarky remark. “But of course, you’re not hot. Hot and cute is different and I’d say Yves is pretty hot.”

“My dear unnies, I don’t think you guys are helping much,” Hyejoo intercepts and rolls her eyes.

For the first time of the day, Jiwoo actually juts her lip out into a pout – something that she normally does on normal occasions. “Yeah, I know… But I still like her. It wouldn’t hurt to try right?”

Jungeun and Jinsoul exchanged stares with one another at this, as if conversing silently in front of Jiwoo and the way Jinsoul was furrowing her brows at Jungeun makes Hyejoo thinks that the two of them are up to something ridiculous, somehow.

Jungeun ultimately makes her decision for the night and the grin on her face just makes everything looks even more suspicious.

Whatever it is, Hyejoo is not going to be inv-

“Fine then. Let us commence operation ‘Seduce Yves-nim’ for our dear Jiwoo!”       

Well. There it is.

Hyejoo was ready to quietly slip away from the living room with her console, only for Jinsoul to catch her in the act and grabs the back of her shirt, preventing Hyejoo from leaving. The smile on her face was way far from benign and this might actually be one of the times where Hyejoo regretted ever taking Haseul’s offer up on staying at the house.

“Nu-uh. You’re not going anywhere kiddo. If I’m going to be involved with this shit, you have to as well.”

May god bless her.

 

“Why do I have to be here? Can’t you hags settle this by yourself?” Hyejoo chews on her chocolate bar with a frown, unwillingly dragging her feet behind the older girls who is now well on their way to where Yves’s group of friends normally hangs out.

The piece of information Jinsoul managed to bribe out from an acquaintance of hers better pays off. Jinsoul had to give away her precious ticket to Red Velvet’s concert that weekend just for it and Jungeun’s offer on taking her out for a shopping spree as replacement better be worth it.

“We’re all in this together Hyejoo. No backing out now,” Jinsoul promptly stops on her tracks, smiling as widely as possible as she holds on to Hyejoo’s arm to stop the younger girl from going anywhere.  

“High School Musical, cute. You might as well be Sharpay with how often you bleach your roots blonde.”

“Oh, you little shi-“

“Will you two quiet down, we’re almost there,” Jungeun hushes them upon reaching the place they had been tipped off with and to everyone’s delight – except for Hyejoo, Yves and her group of friends are really there.

With a quick look at Jiwoo, who appears to be nervous at first glance but is still radiating a smile off her face, Jungeun pushes Jiwoo to their way and immediately catches the attention of one of the girls sitting at the bench.

Jeon Heejin, another pretty face in campus.  

Jungeun had known Heejin from the several sessions at her dance club, that she recently took this semester but she had never really gotten close enough with the girl to hang out or even exchange numbers. At most, they would just have small talks in the dance studio and casually greet each other whenever they bump into one another.

“Oh, hey. Lippie!”

“Lippie?” Hyejoo raises a brow at the questionable name but Jinsoul was quick to answer her with a snicker.

“Kim Lip. It’s the name that she uses at dance classes. Kim Jungeun is not exactly a cool name for a dancer.”

“Hi Heejin,” Jungeun says with a brief smile and lightly kicks Jiwoo on the shin when she realizes that the latter was just standing there doing nothing. Jiwoo shot a glare at her straight away but gets distracted when Yves – the subject of her fascination and basically the target of their plan overall, calls out to her.

“Cutie?”

“H-Hey there!”

_Cutie?_

Another look of confusion appears on Hyejoo’s face. Oh, this has to be a good story. Maybe Hyejoo is a tiny bit interested in the whole ordeal now. Even everyone else but Jiwoo and Yves has curious looks in their faces but chooses to not question anything for now. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” Yves flashes Jiwoo a fond smile as she props her chin on her palm and Hyejoo is pretty confident that Jiwoo is pretty much shot dead on the spot at that very moment. Hyejoo finally gets the reason why everyone seems to be falling for the girl. 

“Y-You too. The weather is nice, isn’t it?” Jiwoo laughs awkwardly and tries to avert her gaze elsewhere. The time passes by for a little with Yves staring at Jiwoo wordlessly, still with the smile on her face and Jiwoo fidgeting under her gaze. Heejin and Jungeun appears to be talking animatedly at the side and the rest of the girls at the bench goes back to minding their own business, though not without sparing Yves and Jiwoo a glance or two while they’re at it.

“Unnie,” Hyejoo turns her head to Jinsoul and deadpans. “Can’t you give Jiwoo-unnie dating lessons? I think she needs it badly at this point. I can’t watch this anymore.”

“Do you think I want to watch this? I’m better off watching the new season of Terrace House on Netflix right now and yet I’m stuck here with you losers.”

Hyejoo’s heaves out a sigh. “Can I go now?”

“Let’s just wait until she’s done and we can get out of here.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Hyejoo reluctantly complied with Jinsoul and lets her eyes roam around the place. Her eyes then met one of the girls very own, who appears to belong to Yves’ clique at the bench and Hyejoo inevitably freezes before smiling awkwardly in return. The girl in question also returns the smile, albeit an awkward one too like Hyejoo’s.

Blonde hair, puffy cheeks, big round eyes and cute cherry lips.

If Hyejoo could describe the girl in one word, it would be Cleffa.

The Pokemon she recently caught in-game.

 

Hyejoo sighs in relief the moment she steps out of the campus ground, happy with the fact that her class ends earlier than usual that day. At least she can rush home now and continue where she had last left off in Zelda. Nothing else is better than playing her games fresh out of shower, accompanied by her bowl of instant ramen at the side.

Her housemates often tells her to get a life and mingle with more people, but Hyejoo decides that the three of them are enough to annoy her occasionally and well, she might not admit it… but she had gotten way too comfortable with them too, for her to look for other friends.

Hyejoo was about to pass by the café nearby their campus, like any other day for her to make her way home but fate seems to have its own odd way of playing with people, as she happens to bump into the girl with the big eyes out of all people that very day.

The Cleffa girl.

With how hard the girl was boring her eyes at the glass wall of the café, it was enough to tell Hyejoo that the girl seems to be contemplating on doing something but is still very much hesitating on her decision.

Whatever it is though, it’s none of her concern she supposes.

Hyejoo was just going to mind her own business like she usually does.

Luck however, doesn’t seem to be on her side these recently.

Just as she passes by behind the girl, the latter seems to have caught Hyejoo in her line of sight and for whatever reason stops Hyejoo from taking any further step by tugging on the end of her jacket, staring at Hyejoo pleadingly.

“U-Uh. Hi.”

“Hello?”

The blonde girl was silent at first, her grip eventually faltering with time as she chews on her bottom lip. “I-I… Uh.”

Okay, Hyejoo is already bad enough with people in the first place. What was she supposed to do with these kind of situation?

“Um. Do you need any help?”

“… You’re one of Kim Jiwoo’s friends right? I saw you the other day when Jiwoo dropped by to talk with Sooyoung-unnie.”

“Yes, I guess you can consider me one?”

“Ah. That’s good. I’m Park Chaewon by the way,” she slightly fidgets as she introduces herself.

 _Shit. That’s cute—Wait, what?_  

“O-Oh. I’m Hyejoo. Son Hyejoo,” Hyejoo figures that it’s only right for her to introduce herself too in light of the Cleffa-like girl telling her name. “So like, do you need my help or something?”

“I… Yes, if you wouldn’t mind,” Chaewon slowly nods.

“Oh. Okay, what do you need help with?”

 Chaewon looks bashful at first before pointing towards the poster on the nearby glass wall.

 

**_‘Come in with your significant other as a couple!_ **

**_And you are entitled to get our promotional Cherry-Blossom themed drinks!_ **

**_Our promotion comes along with a free limited edition Pop! Vinyl figures with the choice of either:_ **

**_Blossom, Bubbles or Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls._ **

**_Promotion is only available today.'_**

 

Oh. That’s why.

Hyejoo stares at the promotional poster incredulously but returns her gaze at Chaewon a few moments after. The poor girl already mustered up her courage to ask Hyejoo – an acquaintance at best, for help so she might as well just agree to help her out.

Hyejoo sucks in a deep breath in an attempt to prepare herself for the act that she was going to put on for the other girl and swiftly takes Chaewon’s hand into hers, tugging her along with her as she confidently strides into the café and straight to the counter. Hyejoo did not even give the other girl the chance to say anything and gives Chaewon a reassuring glance when she notices Chaewon about to move her lips to say something.

“Hi! Do you still have the promotion that you guys put up outside?” Hyejoo says with her chirpiest voice and lifts up their intertwined hands for the staff to see. The girl behind the counter looks surprised at first, but nevertheless smiled at them in return.

“Yes, we do. Would you like to have it warm or cold miss?”

“I’ll have it warm. What about you babe?” Hyejoo spares Chaewon a glance and the latter blushes a little at this.

Hyejoo could only pray her housemates doesn’t see this. _Because dear god she’s going to kill herself if they ever hear of this._

“Warm please. Thank you,” Chaewon mutters out softly and nods her head.

“Coming right up. As for the free Pop Vinyl figure, which one would you like? We have Bubbles and Buttercup left in stock.”

Chaewon looks ecstatic at this. “I’ll get—“ she pauses and instantly corrects herself. “We’ll get Bubbles then.”

“That would be $10.90. We’ll send your drinks to your table once they’re done.”

“Oh! I’ll pay—“ Chaewon rushes to take her purse out from her bag but Hyejoo had already beaten her to it, sliding her own card across the counter to pay.    

“I’ll pay for it by card,” Hyejoo says nonchalantly. Chaewon was about to coax the other girl into letting her pay since she was the one who wanted the figure in the first place after all but Hyejoo only clicks her tongue and shakes her head, causing her to concede in the end.

The two made their way to one of the unoccupied tables near the window once they’re done and Chaewon was the first one to strike up the conversation.

“You could’ve let me pay at least. I was the one who dragged you to this…”

“Just let it be. I’m going to lose my cool image if I let you pay if we’re posing as a couple. Do I look like someone who’d let my girlfriend pay on a date?” Hyejoo crosses her arm as she cocks an eyebrow at Chaewon, pointing at her own figure to address herself.

A faint smile crept up Chaewon’s lips. “Thank you then. I owe you one. But that ego of yours is going to make you broke one day if you keep paying for your date.”

It’s Hyejoo’s turn to grin this time. “A reason why I’m not dating anyone at the moment. Not in a couple of years at least.”

“Fair enough then. But really though, is there anything I can do for you since you helped me out?”

“Hm,” Hyejoo creases her brows as she tries to think of something. Her face lights up when something crosses her mind. The sooner she helps Jiwoo out in impressing Yves, the faster it is for her to get herself out of their ridiculous scheme. Chaewon should know a fair amount of things about Yves since she seems to be in Yves’ clique. “You’re friends with Yves right?”

“Sooyoung-unnie? Yes, I am.”

“Do you know what she likes and don’t like?”

Chaewon blinks at her in a puzzled manner. “Do you like Sooyoung-unnie? I don’t think you’re her type though and besides she’s already interested in—“

“Wait, I don't!” Hyejoo quickly defends herself. “It’s for someone else. Not me.”

“Uh huh, right.”

Hyejoo groans in frustration when she sees Chaewon still not convinced with her confirmation. “… Promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you?”

“That you like Sooyoung-unnie?”

“For god’s sake it’s not me! Jiwoo-unnie is the one who likes her!”

Chaewon looks surprised at first. The look on her face was then replaced with an amused one. “Jiwoo likes her?”

“Yes. She does. That’s the reason why my friends came up with the stupid plan of helping Jiwoo-unnie in wooing  Yves,” Hyejoo says defeatedly as she slumps back against her seat and beams at the sight of the waitress carrying their drinks over, serving them on the table with the vinyl figure that Chaewon had initially wanted. She carefully blows on her cup, bringing them up to her lips for a quick taste. “Ack, that’s hot.”

“That’s interesting, now.”

“If you mean being dragged around by my friends just to prevent Jiwoo-unnie from embarrassing herself in front of Yves is interesting, then sure. It is interesting,” Hyejoo scoffs, earning a small chuckle from Chaewon.

“Should I tell you then? On what Sooyoung-unnie likes and don’t like.”

“Please do but first, promise me you won’t tell anyone about this? Not even your close friends?”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise. It’s the least I can do after you help me get my Bubbles.”

There was a slight twinkle in Chaewon’s eyes as she held on to the vinyl figure.

_She really does like that cartoon a lot._

“Thank you. Now let me just open the notes in my phone to note down whatever you’re about to say about Yves.”

 

“Are you even sure about this?”

“Unnie, I went through lengths to get you some intel and you won’t even believe me? Do I look like I would lie to you?” the corner of her lips tugs into a frown as she sulkily crosses her arms.

A few days had passed since she had last gotten her info on their campus goddess and relayed them to the rest of her housemates and now, the four of them are heading for one of Yves’ clique hangout spots, which of course would end with them ‘accidentally’ bumping into them while Jiwoo happens to wear Sunmi’s fan merch hoodie.

According to Chaewon, Yves is a huge fan of Sunmi and upon knowing this, of course Jungeun had to purchase one online for Jiwoo, with the reasoning that Jiwoo might be able to converse with Yves with Sunmi as the common topic if Yves sees Jiwoo wearing one of Sunmi’s fan merchandise.

Which is obviously a much better conversation compared to talking about the weather.

Truth to be told, Jiwoo is not really a big fan of the singer but she still does know a thing or two about her and had listened to her songs before so she supposes that it won’t hurt to try.

She might as well do whatever since she had gotten this far into her friends’ plan.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry,” Jiwoo apologizes right away. Despite of all the courage she had mustered up today, her bodily functions seems to be betraying her when she sees Yves from a distance, who somehow spotted her from afar and waves to her excitedly. Her palms that were perfectly fine a few moments ago grew sweaty out of nowhere.

“Oh look, there’s your Juliet over there,” Jungeun says dryly. Jinsoul who had been munching on her bag of Cheetos all the while offers the bag to Jungeun, in which the girl happily dips her hand into.

“Please, Jiwoo is not even half a Romeo.”

“Touche.”

Hyejoo exhaled deeply. Everything about this is making her think twice on her life. She quietly watches Jiwoo waddles to Yves’ table and this time, Jinsoul and Jungeun chooses not to interfere and just watch their friend from a distance, snacking on their shared bag of Cheetos.

It didn’t take long for them to get occupied by a random student who happens to see them. Probably one of their circle of acquaintances and Hyejoo doesn’t really recognize his face.      

“Boo.”

Hyejoo automatically flinches and almost screamed when she hears a sudden voice in her left ear, surprising her from behind. She immediately scowls when she sees the owner of the voice. Park Chaewon was there in all her glory, wearing a vintage dress with flower patterns and a teasing smile on her face.

“Hello. What are you doing here?”

“I’m on my way to my friends just over there,” Chaewon tips her head to the said direction. Judging by the way Jiwoo and Yves is now laughing together and that Jiwoo is happily talking to the latter without being a ball of stuttering mess, they are making progress at least. “Jiwoo seems to be getting just well with Sooyoung-unnie.”

“She is. Thanks to you.”

“You’re welcome,” Chaewon hums softly as she stands next to Hyejoo. “Do you happen to know why Jiwoo likes Sooyoung-unnie?”

“I don’t. Jungeun-unnie tried to squeeze it from her last time but she won’t tell.”

“Hm. Well, love does work in a strange way.”

“Speaking of love,” Hyejoo averts her gaze down to Chaewon. “Where’s your Bubbles?”

Chaewon appears slightly offended by this. “Excuse you, just because I like Bubbles doesn’t mean that I have to carry it everywhere with me.”

“Eh, I’m not much of a Powerpuff Girls fan. I like Adventure Times better.”

“Ah, I watch that too! I like Princess Bubblegum.”

“Oh, I like Marceline—“ Hyejoo was about to say some more and comes to a sudden pause when she recalls the latest episode that she had just watched.

_Bubblegum and Marceline…_

“As expected. You always look moody,” Chaewon sneaks in a snarky comment and grins triumphantly. Hyejoo clicks her tongue in retort.

“I like you better when you were all shy and quiet in front of that café.”

Chaewon casually ignores her, fixing her gaze on Hyejoo’s face for a while. “A moody look is not a good look on you. You look better without it.”   

“At least I don’t look like someone who throws up rainbow everywhere she walks to.”

“You’re complimenting me now? That’s sweet.”

“How is that sweet?”

“Throwing up rainbow. That just mean I look gay. Which is nice,” Chaewon sticks her tongue out at Hyejoo and just before Hyejoo had the chance to open her mouth once again, Chaewon had already bid her goodbye and walked off to where her friends were at.

Park Chaewon is really something.  

    

Hyejoo could really use something sweet right now.

All those hours at the library is draining her out and she didn’t even realize that it was already way past dinner time by the time she steps out of the library. A hot chocolate would be nice, or just anything warm or sweet would do really.

Maybe she’s just going to make herself a cup of hot chocolate when she reaches home. She still has her box of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa after all.

Hyejoo stifles a yawn as she lazily treads down her usual path to home. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about dinner tonight. Jiwoo did texted earlier on their group chat that she had already bought dinner for the four of them and she could just reheat whatever leftovers they had put aside for her.

Fate however, seems to have another plan for her.

Hyejoo squints her eyes at the sight of a familiar head of blonde exiting the café that she usually passes by – the very same café that she spent time with Chaewon last time and it really is Park Chaewon again, with her cup of takeaway drink and a plastic bag in another hand.

Hyejoo was determined to ignore the latter and just pretend to not see her, but she changes her mind when she notices a group of what she assumes to be high school boys leering at Chaewon from afar.

_It’s none of her business. It’s none of her business—Oh the two of them did not just made their move to approach Chaewon—_

“Hey. Midget,” Hyejoo jogs up from behind and calls out to her. Chaewon instinctively spins around to see the owner of the voice, frowning at first when she realizes the name Hyejoo had just called her with. Hyejoo inwardly sighs in relief when she notices the two boys backing away to return to their former group.

“I have a name, you know.”

“I know.”

“Then?”

“You’re a midget. So I’ll call you one,” Hyejoo shrugs her shoulders and prompts the two to walk once again.

“You’re mean. I don’t like you.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said I like you.”

“You’re like a grumpy dog you know. Maybe I should call you grumpy dog.”

“Call me that and I’ll call you… Princess Rainbow-fart bomb.”

It was Chaewon’s turn to spare her a ludicrous look for a split second before biting back a laughter. “This conversation is getting dumber by seconds.”

“Fine then, I’ll yield this time.”

“Shouldn’t you get going by now? I’m going this way,” Chaewon points towards the direction to her way home and Hyejoo did not know what came over her at that moment. Her house is pretty much the opposite way of where Chaewon was headed to and honestly speaking, it would only take less than ten minutes if she were to head home now.

_But what if those group of boys follows her home?_

“I’m going the same way.”

“Oh? Really? I guess we can walk together then.”

The rest of their trip home goes by with silence, with the two of them walking side by side and oddly, the silence was rather comfortable. For the two of them.

Hyejoo comes to a halt when Chaewon stops in front of her apartment building, looking at Hyejoo with curiosity.

“So, where do you live?”

“Uh… Somewhere.”

“Huh. You can go then.”

“Um, maybe you should go inside first.”

Chaewon was getting more suspicious by the way Hyejoo was diverting her eyes elsewhere, not willing to look Chaewon in the eyes.

“Please don’t tell me you actually live in another direction and just decided to be a gentleman and secretly walks me home.”

Hyejoo’s eyes grows wider with time as Chaewon continues to spout out her words. Every single thing that Chaewon had just said to her was true.

_Bullseye._

“Oh my god. Do you actually like me Son Hyejoo? Why are you being this sweet to me?” Chaewon teasingly takes a step closer to Hyejoo, in which the latter instantly takes a step away, adjusting the scarfs on her neck to cover the lower half of her face.

She’s not going to let the other girl see how much her cheeks had heated up right now.

“I don’t!”

“You’re acting like one of those main characters in those dramas. How cute.”

“Well the only reason why I’m accompanying you home was because those boys were leering at you earlier alright!”

“Oh?” Chaewon’s eyebrows perks up in surprise upon learning the piece of information but she smiles out of affection at Hyejoo nevertheless. “So. You were accompanying me home because you’re worried about me?”

“…Yes.”

“You do know that you’re a girl too right? Who’s going to protect you if anything happens to you too because of me?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that. I learnt Taekwondo when I was a kid.”

Seeing on how Hyejoo still refuses to look at Chaewon in the eyes, Chaewon decided to take matters into her own hand, slightly tiptoeing on her feet and gently tugging Hyejoo’s scarf down. Chaewon raises her hands up to press her palms against Hyejoo’s cheeks.

Hyejoo’s cheeks were rather warm, in comparison to her cold palms.

“Thank you.”

“… Your hands are cold.”

“You’re like a big doggy. Maybe I should call you doggy.”

“Stop calling me a dog and let go of my cheeks.”

“Fine then,” Chaewon says as she removes her hands from Hyejoo’s face with a snort. Hyejoo was ready to take her leave when Chaewon asks her to extend a hand out to her. “Hand.”

Hyejoo was sceptical at first but willingly sticks her hand out in the end. “What is it?”

“Good doggy,” Chaewon snickers in amusement.  

“Why you little—“ Hyejoo’s words was cut off upon feeling something warm hitting her palm. It was a piece of steamed bun and Chaewon had just taken it out from her plastic bag to give her one. “What’s this for?”

“A thank you gift. It has red beans inside.”

“Oh. Um, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Now go, it’s getting late.”

 

“I’m home.”

“Oh hey, welcome home.”

Jinsoul says when she spots Hyejoo from the couch in the living room, the latter dragging her feet across the hallway to head straight to the kitchen counter right after taking her shoes off. Jungeun seems to have just finished eating her portion of dinner.

“Hey, you’re home late,” Jungeun says.  

“Yeah, I had a lot of things to do at the library,” Hyejoo replies, taking a peek at the leftover dinner on the counter. “Where’s Jiwoo-unnie?”

“Oh, she’s out to get some ice cream. Did you drop by somewhere to get steamed buns on your way home?” Jungeun shifts her gaze to the bun in Hyejoo’s hand.

“Not really, someone gave it to me.”

“Oh? What’s inside?”

“Red bean.”

“I thought that you hated red beans? Let me have that then.”

“No.”

“But—“

Hyejoo scrunches her face at the steamed bun that she was holding in her hand before unwrapping it and taking a huge bite out of the soft white bun.

God, she hates red bean.

It’s too sweet for her liking.

But then again, she did crave for something warm and sweet earlier so this will suffice for now, she supposes.

“Stingy.”

“I like red beans now.”

 

 


End file.
